I poked my head in here earlier, but wanted to be awake enough to answer. I have insomnia, which is why I'm up and posting in threads at 2:30 in the morning. lol.

I think this has to do with that impulse to want the fire to be always lit. What actually happens is that fire dies out or dies down, becoming something more even and stable. This is also why a lot of young marriages fizzle out. Just when these two people are calming down and should be settling into something more constant, steady, and secure, one or both of the spouses will take that as 'the fire' having gone out. Back in the day, they knew what was up and they stayed with it, which is why previous generations from about three or four generations ago produced marriages that lasted literal decades. It was not, as is the pat answer nowadays, that they endured through bad marriages. They just knew that when you first met and fell in love, it was all hot and heavy (I'm not talking about sex, although that's part of it in the beginning)--that that was just the initial spark, that flash you get like when you shoot a few squirts of lighter fluid into a barbecue grill. But you don't expect it to keep burning like that--you'd burn up your food beyond all recognition. The purpose of that is to get the coals lit initially, and only until they begin to burn on their own with a lower and more even heat. The flames are all but gone, but you have an even temperature and your food will now cook properly and to perfection (unless the person holding the tongs is my ex-husband.)

That initial flash is just to get you going. It is not meant to sustain you, and that kind of spark will not endure over long periods unless the relationship (in a marriage) or the motivation (in drawing or triggering interest) is not stable to begin with. You have to ride it out on your own.

People also do the same with Orthodoxy, getting drawn in by a flash of lightning or crack of thunder, and then that wanes. It's supposed to wane, in order to become something, as I said, more even, steady, and secure. There's a paragraph in a book I'm reading right now, One Flew Over the Onion Dome by Father Huneycutt, that I think pertains to this, and I'm going to post it here, verbatim from his text:

Famous last words of many Converts: "I'm not getting anything out of all this!" Many who come to Orthodoxy are used to a form of worship where one attends church on Sunday in order to get charged up--spiritually, intellectually, emotionally--for the week ahead. The church's worship fills a need in the individual. He or she attends church to "get something." Orthodoxy, in its form of worship and piety, requires sacrifice and humility. It is a different type of worship, a different struggle. This can become frustrating for those who are used to being on the receiving end of a spiritual high.

See "spiritual high" and "charged up." I'm reading this book so that I can see some of the common pitfalls of converting to Orthodoxy, and hopefully recognize them when I see them in myself and therefore, don't succumb to them. And this is one of them. We get jazzed up about something, and then when that wanes, we assume that means the fire's gone out and we're no longer interested or concerned. Actually, it just means that whatever we were motivated by or fired up over, that thing isn't gone. It's just trying to become something more rooted and firm.

But we're flaky and have ADHD. That's rooted in American culture. Follow the bouncing ball, and then something else more dazzling is put in our path so that we go follow that, and on and on. Almost everything in our lives becomes something to 'trend' at, and we go from one thing to another thing to another thing, never sticking with anything, and, in the end, finishing nothing. We get to a point where the thing we want is that initial spark, and the only way to keep that going is to be constantly changing our path and our scenery. It's a trap. Just don't fall in.

Axios! Axios! Axios!

Logged

That is the land of lost content, I see it shining plain, The happy highways where I went And cannot come again.-A.E. Housman

newtoorthodoxy has expressed very well a common struggle that many Protestants experience when they look into Orthodoxy, a pitfall that many Orthodox Priests have also noticed.

God grant you many years, newtoorthodoxy!

Axios!

« Last Edit: November 11, 2013, 03:16:36 PM by Maria »

Logged

The memory of God should be treasured in our hearts like the precious pearl mentioned in the Holy Gospel. Our life's goal should be to nurture and contemplate God always within, and never let it depart, for this steadfastness will drive demons away from us. - Paraphrased from St. Philotheus of Sinai Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart,Translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovksy and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, Boston, 1992 printing.

Conquer evil men by your gentle kindness, and make zealous men wonder at your goodness. Put the lover of legality to shame by your compassion. With the afflicted be afflicted in mind. Love all men, but keep distant from all men.—St. Isaac of Syria

The memory of God should be treasured in our hearts like the precious pearl mentioned in the Holy Gospel. Our life's goal should be to nurture and contemplate God always within, and never let it depart, for this steadfastness will drive demons away from us. - Paraphrased from St. Philotheus of Sinai Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart,Translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovksy and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, Boston, 1992 printing.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who can watch the watchmen?"No one is paying attention to your post reports"Why do posters that claim to have me blocked keep sending me pms and responding to my posts? That makes no sense.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

Logged

Some of my questions might appear patently stupid to those well-versed in Orthodoxy, but I'm brand new, having no background in the faith. Please grant me a great deal of patience and consideration as I learn the basics.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

There was only one little paragraph from Father Huneycutt.

The rest were your words, weren't they? If so, you did an excellent job.

Logged

The memory of God should be treasured in our hearts like the precious pearl mentioned in the Holy Gospel. Our life's goal should be to nurture and contemplate God always within, and never let it depart, for this steadfastness will drive demons away from us. - Paraphrased from St. Philotheus of Sinai Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart,Translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovksy and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, Boston, 1992 printing.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

There was only one little paragraph from Father Huneycutt.

The rest were your words, weren't they? If so, you did an excellent job.

Not really. You paraphrase what someone else has said and then transcribe the original text. I emailed Fr Huneycutt to let him know he basically won this POTM as it was his words. Not that he'd poke his head in here, but I've won nothing. They weren't my words. My words invariably get me shot in the foot. I appreciate the thought, though.

Hopefully, it at least served as an endorsement for his book.

« Last Edit: November 11, 2013, 11:03:18 PM by newtoorthodoxy »

Logged

Some of my questions might appear patently stupid to those well-versed in Orthodoxy, but I'm brand new, having no background in the faith. Please grant me a great deal of patience and consideration as I learn the basics.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

There was only one little paragraph from Father Huneycutt.

The rest were your words, weren't they? If so, you did an excellent job.

Not really. You paraphrase what someone else has said and then transcribe the original text. I emailed Fr Huneycutt to let him know he basically won this POTM as it was his words. Not that he'd poke his head in here, but I've won nothing. They weren't my words. My words invariably get me shot in the foot. I appreciate the thought, though.

Hopefully, it at least served as an endorsement for his book.

When I was teaching English classes, this was what we were attempting to teach: The art of reading and then putting those thoughts into our own words and embellishing them with our own experiences. This is precisely what you have accomplished.

Logged

The memory of God should be treasured in our hearts like the precious pearl mentioned in the Holy Gospel. Our life's goal should be to nurture and contemplate God always within, and never let it depart, for this steadfastness will drive demons away from us. - Paraphrased from St. Philotheus of Sinai Writings from the Philokalia: On Prayer of the Heart,Translated from the Russian by E. Kadloubovksy and G.E.H. Palmer, Faber and Faber, London, Boston, 1992 printing.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

There was only one little paragraph from Father Huneycutt.

The rest were your words, weren't they? If so, you did an excellent job.

Not really. You paraphrase what someone else has said and then transcribe the original text. I emailed Fr Huneycutt to let him know he basically won this POTM as it was his words. Not that he'd poke his head in here, but I've won nothing. They weren't my words. My words invariably get me shot in the foot. I appreciate the thought, though.

Hopefully, it at least served as an endorsement for his book.

When I was teaching English classes, this was what we were attempting to teach: The art of reading and then putting those thoughts into our own words and embellishing them with our own experiences. This is precisely what you have accomplished.

+1

Logged

Vain existence can never exist, for "unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain." (Psalm 127)

If the faith is unchanged and rock solid, then the gates of Hades never prevailed in the end.

These weren't my words--they were Fr Huneycutt's. I'm much better at ticking people off, not inspiring anyone or contributing anything useful to the topic at hand. I usually don't even have the proper understanding of what's being discussed at any given moment. Feel free to pick any of the other posts that might have been in the running.

There was only one little paragraph from Father Huneycutt.

The rest were your words, weren't they? If so, you did an excellent job.

Not really. You paraphrase what someone else has said and then transcribe the original text. I emailed Fr Huneycutt to let him know he basically won this POTM as it was his words. Not that he'd poke his head in here, but I've won nothing. They weren't my words. My words invariably get me shot in the foot. I appreciate the thought, though.

Hopefully, it at least served as an endorsement for his book.

When I was teaching English classes, this was what we were attempting to teach: The art of reading and then putting those thoughts into our own words and embellishing them with our own experiences. This is precisely what you have accomplished.

To take any kind of credit for that post would be tantamount to claiming someone else's words as my own.

Logged

Some of my questions might appear patently stupid to those well-versed in Orthodoxy, but I'm brand new, having no background in the faith. Please grant me a great deal of patience and consideration as I learn the basics.